The scrumpy has sorted itself out somewhat, and now looks much more like something I would drink. It is two weeks in to its five week rest. The sediment has sunk to the bottom and it almost looks like something I might drink now. Patience…
Tag Archives: Scrumpy
Apple Sludge Splat
It had all looked so easy. The recipe for the scrumpy said chop up some ginger, squeeze four lemons (I had two and a half, but hey, who’s counting?). Then add a kilo of sugar. Then add the strained apple juice to the mixture. I had carefully sterilised a fruit strainer (for making jam) and this was the mixture, ready to go and looking good. I had carefully sterilised two jugs and another tub to move things in to as well. I looked very organised when I got to the filtering stage, but as you can see, it all went a little pear shaped. Thankfully my wife ran to the rescue and I mopped the floor afterwards with a slightly embarrassed expression on my face.
(It was my intention to taste the blummin’ stuff at some point before putting it away to ferment, but I was in such high dudgeon that I forgot. I’ll just be patient…)
Scrumpy
I wanted to make scrumpy, which I *think* is made from apples crushed with water as opposed to cider which is made from freshly squeezed apple juice. I went to the lovely local library and found BREWING: A step-by-ste guide to making beer, wine and cider by Jack thompson. I then followed the recipe for “Scrumpy Cider”. Well, I say followed, but as usual my impatience got the better of me. It says “roughly chop the apples” then cover with lots of boiling water, then “crush every few days”. I did this but nothing happened for 5 days. I imagined that the yeast had been fried. Maybe I should have let the water cool down.
Anyhow, I came home 5 days after it started to find still no action at all. I blitzed the apples with a hand held food mixer and shoved in some bakers’ yeast. Apparently some recipes have raw meat, but I didn’t fancy that. It got going right away and five more days later it looks more interesting.
The next step is in a few days when I mix it with other ingredients.